Summary of Redefining Race, “Institutional Pan-ethnicity,” and “Toward a Theory of Pan-ethnicity”
In Redefining Race, Dina Okamoto investigates the factors that contributed to the development of Asian pan-ethnicity. She argues that Asian Americans do not consist of a monolithic racial group; they are of diverse national origins, languages, cultures, and generational statuses but socially constructed as a singular category through various mechanisms—through the state, structural inequality, ethnic mobilization, and leaders of ethnic organizations. Okamoto’s findings of the intricate and multifaceted nature of pan-Asian ethnicity reveals that for many Asian Americans (of different ethnic backgrounds), ethnicity and pan-ethnicity are not mutually…show more content… By liberalizing immigration policies and accepting refugees, the state allowed immigrants from various Asian countries to enter the country in mass. Moreover, the extension of civil rights to (racial) minorities during the Civil Rights movement era generated new political opportunities to Asian Americans. The state also established the census category of “Asians” as a racial group, which was adopted by other federal, state, and local agencies, firmly establishing “Asian Americans” as how we as a society understand and perceive in contemporary society. In addition, Asian Americans became aware of their “racialized Other” status when anti-Asian violence against Vincent Chin occurred. This propelled different Asian ethnic groups, who previously thought of themselves as inherently different from one another, to mobilize together against anti-Asian sentiments and…show more content… increase in in-migration) that lead to intensified competition for resources among ethnic groups will lead to heightened group boundaries. However, Okamoto finds that the increase in in-migration and the introduction of new Asian ethnic groups did not lead to competition among Asian ethnic groups and heightened ethnic boundaries. Instead, ethnic organizations that initially formed to serve each ethnic community separately evolved to become more pan-ethnic in their services and events as their main constituencies assimilated into the mainstream American society and new Asian immigrants arrived. Therefore, leaders of ethnic organizations played a crucial role as cultural brokers between different generations within an ethnic group, between ethnic groups, and within the larger Asian American society. They carefully negotiated material and symbolic ethnic boundaries and constructed pan-Asian narratives through different sociopolitical mobilizations and cultural and educational events. Therefore, it is through these meso-level processes of boundary negotiation that pan-Asian ethnic identity became solidified within the Asian American population while simultaneously celebrating diversity within